Telangana High Court to hear PIL on CCTV cams at all police stations tomorrow

Hyderabad: The High Court Division Bench comprising of Chief Justice Ujjal Bhuyan and Justice N Tukaramji has converted the letter of Advocate Rapolu Bhsakar into a Suo Motu taken up Public Interest Litigation (PIL).

Rapolu Bhaskar addressed a letter to the Chief Justice of the Telangana High Court and the content of the PIL is installation of CCTV cameras in all the police stations of the Telangana State to reduce custodial deaths, human rights violation and to protect innocent people from police brutality and torture.

Further, non installation of the CCTV cameras within the police stations paves way for police brutality on innocent people, who are beaten in the name of interrogation and innocents are succumbing to police torture, which is not reported due to the absence of CCTV cameras.

Moreover, some cases of recent custodial deaths which were reported in the media viz., custodial death in Medak district, custodial death in Tukaram Gate Police Station, Secunderabad etc., were also highlighted in the letter.

There are 780 police stations in the State, out of which 40% of the cameras installed in the city are dysfunctional (out of the 10,597 CCTV cameras installed in the city, 4402 cameras are dysfunctional) due to which citizens are deprived of a secured life, leaving them vulnerable to attacks, theft and other dangers.

CCTV cameras with 30 days recording were installed in various police stations of the State as mandated under the Telangana Public Safety Measures Enforcement Act, 2013, but 40% of the

CCTV cameras were dysfunctional and when such an important issue was taken to the notice of the officials, they turned ignorant, alleged in the letter.

The Chief Secretary to the Telangana State government, Principal Secretary Home Department and the Director General of Police, Telangana are the respondents in the Suo Motu taken up PIL and the PIL will come up for hearing before the Chief Justice Bench on Monday.